Jacob a



J. A. GONOVER. SHUTTING oEE STEAM PROM AND STOPPING STEAM ENGINES.

No. 23,450. Patented Apr. 5, 1859,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB A. CONOVER, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

STEAM-ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 23,450, dated April 5, 1859.

[0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB A. CoNovER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful mechanism for shutting off the steam from and stopping steam-engines when the gov-v enor or its connections break or the engine runs too slow; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making part of this specification, which said drawing represents a side elevation of the governor of a steamengine, the throttle-valve being in section.

In engines controlled by a governor the connections are such that when the engine runs below speed, or the governor or its connections are broken or so injured as to fail to operate, the throttle or other valve connected therewith is opened wide to give the engine full supply of steam, which often results in serious injury to the engine.

The object of my invention is to prevent such consequences, and to this end my said invention consists in so combinin the governor with the throttle valve by a detaching or disconnecting mechanism that when the governor stops from any cause, or fails to operate the throttle with sufficient activity, the throttle or equivalent valve shall be detached or disconnected therefrom to close and shut off the steam to stop the engine.

In the accompanying drawing (a) represents" the usual fly ball governor which I prefer, although other kinds of governors may be substituted, and which is to be connected with and to be driven by a steam engine in any suitable manner known to engineers.

The sleeve (6) which slides on the vertical shaft (0) of the governor and which is connected by links ((Z, (Z) with the fly ball arms (6, e), is connected in the usual manner with one end of a lever that vibrates on a fulcrum at (g), and the other arm (h) of the said lever is pivoted to the stem of the throttle valve in the usual or any other suitable and equivalent manner, the said arm or the stem being provided with a weightto force down or close the valve. But a spring or other equivalent may be substituted as a means of closing the valve when the connections permit it. The arms (7) and (h) of the said lever can be either united to work as one lever, or separated that they may vibrate independently of each other on their common fulcrum. The arm (/1) extends over the arm as at (/0) and the arm (7') is provided with a catch lever that catches onto the projection and when in that condition the arms and (it) constitute one lever and operate the throttle valve in the usual manner gradually closing the valve as the balls rise by the increased velocity of the engine, and gradually opening the valve as the balls descend by the reduced velocity of the engine.

Below the lever (f, 72 there is another lever (Z) that vibrates on a fulcrum pin in a bracket or standard (m). One end of this lever embraces the shaft of the governor, and when the governor balls descend too low the sleeve (Z2) acts upon and depresses this end of the said lever elevating the other end which is provided with a pin a) that acts against the rear and curved face of the spring catch lever (j) thereby causing it to liberate the arm of the valve lever which being thus liberated from the arm (f) permits the valve to be closed by the force of gravity, or equivalent force. In this way the steam is shut off and the engine stopped and all danger of injury to the en gine thereby avoided.

It will be seen from the foregoing thatso long as the balls of the governor are maintained above a certain height the throttle valve is operated by the governor in the usual manner, because the lever (Z) does not act 011 the spring catch lever which unites the two arms (f, h) that they may act one lever, and that this connection is only broken by the action of the lever (Z) on the spring catch lever to break the connection and that this only takes place when the sleeve of the governor is so far depressed as to act on the lever (Z) so that by the adjustment of the parts the disconnection of the parts can be caused to take place at any determined position of the balls so that if desired this mechanism can also be employed to stop the engine when the engineer neglects his duty and permits the pressure of the steam in the boiler to get too low to work the engine at proper speed, but the leading object is to shut off the steam whenever from any cause the governor stops.

Although I prefer to use the fly ball governor, it will be obvious that any gov ernor or regulator can be substituted. And although the mode of application of my said invention above described is the only one which I have applied I do not wish to be understood as limiting my claim of invenvalve to permit it to be closed to shut off the steam by an independent power.

Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

Combining with the mechanism which connects the governor with the throttle valve to regulate the admission of steam to the engine, substantially as described, a mechanism'substantia-lly such as described Which disconnects the throttle from the governor to permit it to be closed by an independent power to shut off the steam from the engine, as described and for the purpose set forth.

JACOB A. CONOVER.

WVitnesses JACOB M. PALMER,

WM. H. BISHOP. 

